[Illustration: THE CHART OF BEHRING'S VOYAGE FROM KAMTCHATKA TO NORTH AMERICA. From a chart drawn in 1741 by Lieut. Waxell, a member of Behring's expedition. It is also interesting for the drawing of the sea-cow, one of the very few authentic drawings of this curious animal, which has long been extinct, and is only known by these drawings.] Here, however, the little party was forced to winter. With difficulty they built five underground huts on the sandy shore of the island now known as Behring Island. And each day amid the raging snowstorms and piercing winds one man went forth to hunt for animal food. Man after man died, and by December, Behring's own condition had become hopeless. Hunger and grief had added to his misery, and in his sand-hut he died. He was almost buried alive, for the sand rolled down from the pit in which he lay and covered his feet. He would not have it removed, for it kept him warm. Thirty more of the little expedition died during that bitter winter on the island; the survivors, some forty-five persons, built a ship from the timbers of the wreck, and in August 1742 they returned to Kamtchatka to tell the story of Behring's discoveries and of Behring's death. CHAPTER XLV COOK DISCOVERS NEW ZEALAND But while the names of Torres, Carpenter, Tasman, and Dampier are still to be found on our modern maps of Australia, it is the name of Captain Cook that we must always connect most closely with the discovery of the great island continent--the Great South Land which only became known to Europe one hundred and fifty years ago. Dampier had returned to England in 1701 from his voyage to New Holland, but nearly seventy years passed before the English were prepared to send another expedition to investigate further the mysterious land in the south.